What if?
by TheLadyBath
Summary: What if Callen was not as alone as he thought he was? What if somebody came to his rescue when he needed it most? What if an old adversary still wanted revenge? Can The two teams work together to protect those most important to them? Takes place right after Spiral. Lily is from my NCIS Fiction - "Its Complicated,"In the Line of Duty" Also hurt/comfort to come. Please R and R.
1. Chapter 1

**The ending of "Spiral" got me thinking. This will be slightly off the canon, but hopefully not too much and the story will make it worth your time. I went in and rewrote this as really a first chapter to what hopefully will be a multi-chapter story. Also, I found some medical stuff that did not make much sense so I tweaked that too.**

Images and flashes of of memories replayed themselves in Callen's mind. They were brief, abbreviated snippets that alone did not seem to make sense, but together, they seemed to tell a story.

Callen remembered the vial being thrown on the floor and the isolation door closing leaving him inside. He remembered coughing and the blood on his hands. He remembered looking up and seeing people in isolation suits hovering over him. Then there is nothing for what seems like a long time. The next memory fragment was his partner Sam's face and then Hetty's. He heard voices, "We're losing him. I need more blood." Another face appeared in Callen's memory. It was his mother. She was leaning over him, looking at this face. But that was impossible, wasn't it? His mother had been dead for over thirty years. The most overwhelming memory was the insistent beeping that did not seem to go away. In fact the beeping was getting louder and louder. It finally occurred to Callen that the beeping was his heart monitor and the reason that it was so loud was because he was actually awake.

Callen let a groan escape his lips. He felt terrible. Every inch of his body hurt and he was so weak, it took all his focus to just open his eyes. But he forced his eyes to open and saw the familiar and comforting outline of his partner, Sam Hanna sitting in a chair by his bed. For a moment, he thought he saw somebody else, but the outline was outside his line of sight and he did not have the energy to move enough to confirm what he thought he saw.

"Well. Welcome back to the land of the living," Sam said. He tried to sound flippant, but the relief that his partner was actually alive and awake was evident in his voice.

"Where am I," Callen asked, vaguely annoyed that he cannot speak above a whisper.

"You are the Norris Cancer Center at USC," Sam said. You were transferred here about four weeks ago from the CDC Headquarters. "You've been out the whole time. It was pretty much touch and go for a while."

"What the hell happened?"

"You almost died. That's what happened," Sam huffed, trying to sound tough and not entirely succeeding. "Spiral almost killed you. Luckily they had the antidote to treat you and…," Sam paused uncomfortably.

"And what?"

"And apparently you are in the one percent of the population that could have a negative reaction to the antidote."

"Lucky me ," Callen said ruefully.

"Yes. You were lucky. The antidote destroyed your ability to produce bone marrow. You know what that means?" Callen knew vaguely and Sam continued. "It means that you would die. Your immune system would fail and you would need constant blood transfusions just so your body would function. It means that you needed a bone marrow transplant. And you were lucky that Hetty found a donor."

"Bone Marrow? A Transplant? From who?". Callen was no doctor, but he knew that finding a genetic match close enough to do a bone marrow transplant outside of a family was almost impossible.

"Well there's a whole story there," said Sam.

"Sam," Callen's voice was weak, but the implied warning was loud and clear. Callen hated surprises and mysteries. They usually did not go well for him. "Where did the bone marrow come from?" Callen demanded again. As Sam vacilated on what to tell his partner, Callen heard a new voice.

"Me. The bone marrow came from me." Callen gaped. The woman that stepped into his line os sigh, looked just like his mother. Petite with long curly brown hair and large brown eyes. Callen could tell that she was used to laughing more than frowning although now she wore a concerned and even slightly frightened expression. Callen realized that he did remember what his mother looked like that last time he saw her - she looked just like this apparition in front of him.

"Dobroyo utro, Grisha, (Good morning, Greg)" the young woman said in perfect Russian. "Meny zavout Lili, no te meny znall kak Sofia (My name is Lily, but you knew me as Sophia.")

"Ya tvoya sestra (I am your sister). Callen stared as Lily Tomoshenko, CIA Agent currently on loan to NCIS in Washington DC, decimated everything he ever knew or thought he knew about his life.

**This is my first cross over story and my first attemtp at NCIS-LA. I have always really found Callen to be such a sad, lonely character (I get it that's the point), that he just needs somebody. Then Lily came to be (would love it if you read the other stories) and then one day it dawned on me that given her own history and the unknowns in her life, she could be a perfect long-lost sister for Callen. It will call for some minor changes to canon, but I think I have them figured out. By the way - the Russian is authentic. Its the best that I can do phonetically, but it is my first language although I have been speaking English for most of my life now. Please read and review and provide any thoughts and comments. Please let me know if this is of interest to you. Thank you**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the delay. I was trying to figure some things out. I think I am going to have to play just a bit with the timeline and the ages of the characters (just two years or so maybe) to make this work. I do not think this will materially affect anything that is in the canon of the story. But if you feel differently, please let me know.**

**10 days earlier**

When Hetty Lange said something, her expectation was that it would be taken as a fact and not just an opinion. When she had commented that this was not the end for Callen, everybody believed her, or tried to. Admittedly, it was difficult since he was lying in isolation, unconscious, and struggling to breathe even as doctors in full isolation suits fought to stop the damage that Spiral was causing.

During a conference between the doctors treating Callen, Hetty and Sam, the decision was quickly made to airlift Callen to the CDC facility in Georgia. "There is another problem, we need to deal with," the attending physician told Hetty. "Mr. Callen's immune system has completely collapsed.

"Collapsed?" Hetty put all the meaning in the world into that one word. "How?"

"Side effect of Spiral. About one percent of the population reacts badly to the antidote destroying the bone marrow and without bone marrow, white blood cells cannot be produced and without the white blood cells, the patient becomes vulnerable to anything from an infection from a paper cut to pneumonia starting from a common cold. Unfortunately, the results are almost always fatal."

"No." the finality in Hetty's voice made the doctor start and Sam to get some hope back. "There is always something that can be done. What are the options here, doctor?"

"The only option is for Agent Callen is to get a bone marrow transplant. Does he have any relatives?"

Sam was about to answer in the negative, when Hetty again spoke up. "If it is a bone marrow transplant that Agent Callen needs, then a bone marrow transplant he shall have." Hetty blithely ignored the incredulous look that Sam was giving her.

Once the conversation was finished, Hetty went to the Ops center. Nell and Eric were sitting at their consoles trying to look busy and not to worry about their friend.

"Nell. Eric." Hetty never used first names so that alone made the two look up at her with grave concern in their eyes. "Mr. Callen needs a bone marrow transplant. We all know that he does not have any family, so a genetic match would be almost impossible. We have Mr. Callen's DNA profile that could be run against all DNA databases to which you have….," Hetty paused meaningfully,"…to which you have access. I cannot and will not ask you to do this as the legality of this activity is questionable at best. However, should you find anybody; I will use every method at my disposal to shield you from any negative repercussions." With that, Hetty turned on her heel and left.

Nell and Eric exchanged one glance and as one person faced their keyboards and began typing furiously in their effort to save their friend.

What shocked them both was not that they could not find a match, but that they could and that the match was made within thirty minutes of launching the search. Nell pulled the report off the printer and ran to Hetty's office.

"My God," was all Hetty could say as she looked at the report and the accompanying picture. "Could it be possible?" she mumbled to herself much to Nell's confusion. "I need to be on the next available flight to Washington," Hetty was again all business, "and please get Agent Gibbs on the telephone immediately. I will speak to him in NTAC as soon as he is available."

* * *

><p>Lily sat in a conference room and tried to imagine who or what was so important that she was pulled off the surveillance detail she had been on and ordered to report back to NCIS immediately. As a federal agent, she was used to secrecy and the need to act quickly, but never in her entire career has there been this much urgency or this little information. She sighed and checked her watch. It had only been five minutes, but it felt much longer. She settled in to wait.<p>

The door opened and a diminutive woman came in followed by Gibbs. There was something about the woman that radiated authority and without even realizing it; Lily stood up to greet her.

"Agent Tomoshenko," Gibbs said. "This is Hetty Lange. Head of Operations for NCIS Special Projects in California."

"Ma'am," Lily acknowledged holding out her hand. The woman's grip was surprisingly strong and there was intelligence, and steel in her eyes, but Lily noted that there was also a great deal of humor and compassion. "What can I do for you, ma'am?"Lily asked.

"Please sit down, Agent Tomoshenko," Hetty said. Lily did so and noticed that Gibbs was leaving, closing the door behind him.

Hetty reached into her back and pulled out a folder. She opened a folder and placed several photographs on the conference table in front of Lily. The photos were of a handsome, light haired man, probably no more than ten years older than Lily. The faintest tickle started at the back of Lily's brain, but she ignored it, focusing instead on Hetty.

"Do you know this man?" Hetty asked.

"I don't think so. Should I?" was Lily's response.

Hetty took a deep breath. "This is going to be awkward and I wish to God there was a more diplomatic or gentle way to tell you what I am going to tell you, but, time is of the essence and I cannot afford those niceties right now. I apologize for that, but it cannot be helped. This man is Agenct G. Callen and I have good reason to believe he is your brother."

Lily looked up from the photographs and into Hetty's eyes. Hetty did not seem to be joking. "I have a brother," Lily said. "He is sitting at a desk not thirty feet from here."

"Yes, I know about Agent DiNozzo," Hetty said gently. "What I mean to tell you is that you and Agent Callen share the same parents."

"That's impossible!" Lily did not mean to raise her voice, but this conversation was not making sense and that tickle – like a long forgotten thought or a memory just on the edge of consciousness was beginning to irritate her rational mind. "As far as I know, my mother had no other children."

"Agent Tomoshenko," Hetty's voice was gentle but full of authority. "What I am about to tell you has been kept a secret for over thirty years. It will be hard for you to hear and may be even harder for you to accept, but I swear on my life that every word is true. I have no time to be gentle because a man's life, this man," Hetty pointed to the photographs on the table, "is in grave danger and I believe only you have the key to save him."

Lily took a deep breath to steady herself, looked directly at Hetty and said, "OK. I'm ready."

"The first thing that you need to accept is that Irina Tomoshenko was not your birth mother." At Lily's outraged look, Hetty smiled gently and said, "She was your mother in every way that mattered. I know that, but you were not born to her. You were born to one Clara Callen who was a CIA agent working first in Romania and then in the United States. You were the youngest of three children, Agent Callen was the oldest." She did not mention what happened to the middle child and Lily was too shocked to ask.

"Your mother and father ran afoul of some very bad people and they were assassinated. I was too late to save them," Lily's trained ear caught deep sadness in this remark raw even after all the years. "You were just a baby then, not even one yet. Your brother was not quite eight. I swore that I would protect you children and that meant hiding both of you as deeply and as completely as I could so the people who killed your parents would never find you."

Lily just stared at Hetty as she continued. "Given your brother's age, we thought it best to keep him in America where he had grown up and to "lose" him, as it were, in the foster care system. You as a baby, needed more. Irina Tomoshenko was also one of my agents – one of my best, and she desperately wanted to raise you as her daughter. You were small enough that we thought you would adapt to the new conditions and you did. Irina moved to Russia as part of the staff at the United States Embassy in Moscow and raised you as her own. Nobody ever suspected that the little Russian girl named Lily Tomoshenko was actually Sophia Callen, missing baby daughter of the agents that were executed by the Comescu cartel." At the name, Lily looked up. She knew the Comescu cartel. Everybody in her business did.

"So let me get this straight," Lily said. "I was born in the US, taken to Russia and then made an American citizen under a different name?"

"Yes," Hetty said. "We wanted to hide you completely away. We were more successful then I could have hoped. After Irina retired from the CIA, I lost track of her and thought she was still in Russia. I would never have even thought to look for you, except that Agent Callen desperately needs your help."

Lily did not say anything, but continued to look at Hetty. Her head was roiling with emotions and questions, but her training kept a check on it as she tried to process what Hetty was saying. When she went back to this time later, what struck her was how accepting she was as if it all made sense on some deep level she could feel, but not understand.

"Agent Callen was very badly injured in an incident pertaining to a case he had just completed. He was exposed to a toxin and his reaction was worse than anticipated. This toxin has destroyed his bone marrow and with it his immune system. He is dying." Hetty saw Lily cringe. "He needs a bone marrow transplant very quickly or he will not survive. You are a genetic match and his only hope. I know I am asking a great deal of you and that you have no reason to agree, but, "Hetty hesitated and Lily saw emotion well up in her eyes even as she quickly suppressed it again, " he is very important to a great number of people. You are now his only chance. Would you be willing to donate bone marrow?"

Lily continued looking at Hetty.. There really was no decision to make. There was only the right thing to do. "Yes," she whispered, then she took a deep breath and blew it out to calm herself down. "Yes," she said in a louder voice. "I will donate bone marrow to…," she hesitated, but somehow again she knew the truth of it, "…to my brother."

**I hope that you are enjoying this story. I had fun writing it so far and I am curious to see where it leads (I have some ideas of course). I would love your comments, recommendations and, of course reviews. If you like it, please let me know. If there are things you would like to see, tell me that too. Thank you for taking the time to read and please stand by for the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I few minor tweaks to this chapter just to improve readability. **

Tony and Tim both looked up from their work when Lily entered the bull pen. She smiled at the two most important men in her life. "Tony? Do you have a few minutes? I need to run something by you." Tony heard something odd in her voice and looked over at Tim whose own look of concern confirmed that he was not hearing things.

"Sure thing," he smiled his famous smile.

Lily knew that Tim would be curious and worried, she quickly walked over and whispered, "See you tonight?" and smiled. She had no secrets from Tim – at least none the she knew about.

* * *

><p>Tony and Lily left the NCIS building and walked outside in the Navy Yard. It was a glorious fall day crisp but not cold. Tony's expression became serious as he stopped Lily and turned her around. "OK. Now that you have my full attention, what's going on?"<p>

"What do you remember about my mom, Tony?" Not the most auspicious beginning to a conversation, but Lily had already had a tough day.

Tony looked at his step-sister appraisingly. "Why?" When she did not answer, he continued to walk. "I remember that she was pretty and that she was funny, but also quiet. Back then, for some reason I had always thought there was something sad that had happened to her that she could never get over. Honestly, Lily, I had always thought it had something to do with your dad." At this Lily looked at Tony.

"How so?"

"Neither Senior nor I ever knew what happened to him. Irina never said, so I figured it must have been something bad. I always thought you must take after him, because you really did not look like you mom."

Lily, smiled ruefully, she stopped at a bench, sat down, and pulled Tony down too. "You are more right than you can ever guess. Turns out, I do look like my dad." She looked away, unable momentarily to continue.

"Lily, what are you saying," Tony's voice was full of concern. It was remarkable, even to him, how protective he had become of Lily in the past 18 months of having her back in his life. Having almost lost her to the bullets of a Russian mobster, he had sworn to himself that he would do whatever he could to protect her.

"I just met with Hetty Lange." Tony nodded. He had met that individual before and frankly found her to be her very own force of nature. "She had some….," Lily paused, "…some interesting information for me." She took a deep breath, forced her hands to lie still in her lap, and continued. "It turns out that my parents were Clara and Roger Callen." Tony's mouth opened and shut as Lily continued. "Yes – that Callen.

The parents of one Agent G. Callen out of the Los Angeles office. Tony – he is my brother." The tension overcame Lily and the tears that she had been holding back came to her eyes. "My parents, my real parents were murdered and I was taken to Russia under a different name to protect me from the Comescu cartel. My real name is Sofia Callen and I was born in America."

Tony, never could stand to see her hurt. He put his arm around her and pulled her in closer to him. "Changes nothing as far as I'm concerned. You are Lily Tomoshenko, my sister. Whatever or whoever else you were, are, or would be, is incidental to that fact." He emphasized his words by tightening his arm around her shoulders and Lily cuddled in closer, glad for the human contact. But why did Hetty tell you now?"

"Agent Callen has been hurt and he needs my help. He needs bone marrow and, of course, I'm a match. I'll be leaving shortly for LA to have the surgery. Its all happening so fast, that I know I have not processed it all yet, but I wanted you to know all this from me."

Lily stared straight ahead when Tony started to speak. "Nothing about this changes anything. You go do what you think is right. I'll be here for you. I will always have your Six." Lily looked up at Tony gratefully as his blue eyes smiled down at her. Just as she had done as a little girl, she laid her head on his shoulder drawing strength from his presence.

* * *

><p>"I get it, Hetty. I just don't like it." Gibbs and Hetty were alone in a conference room. "The surgery is risky and she has just recently fully recovered from her own injuries. Callen is a good man, but he has some powerful enemies. Anybody associated with him, risks getting hurt…or worse."<p>

"I know all that, Leroy, believe me, I do." Hetty marveled at how protective Gibbs was of this young woman, but then again, he had always had a highly developed sense of responsibility for those under his command. It was what made him an excellent leader and an excellent man. "I would not have asked and I would not have risked exposing her if there was any other choice, but there isn't. Agent Callen will die without the transplant. Somebody from my team will always be with her – you know how good they are. Also," Hetty hesitated, "Why don't you send one of your agents with her. Our teams work well together and the extra set of hands would be welcomed."

Gibbs still did not like it very much, but he owed Callen and he could not stop Lily even if he wanted to. All he could do, was to try to keep her safe. He stood up and went to the door. He opened it and looked into the bullpen where Tim McGhee was furiously typing on his computer.

"Mcgee!"

"Ya, Boss." The younger agent was immediately alert.

"Pack your bag. You and Agent Tomoshenko are going to LA. Tonight."

* * *

><p>"And that's the story as far as I know it," Lily finished telling Tim as they were packing their bags. "Gibbs must be very concerned about this whole thing to send you with me, but as far as I can tell, there has been no trouble with the Comescu's for a long time." She stopped and looked at Tim. "The really strange thing is that I guess I really don't know who I am. I had always been Lily Tomoshenko, daughter or Irinia Tomoshenko, but I guess I am Sofia Callen too. All of a sudden, I'm really not sure who I am," Lily shuddered, "Its like I've been living a lie all these years."<p>

Tim smiled. When Gibbs gave him the summary version of the situation, he was worried about how Lily would take it. "I know who you are," he said gently, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into a kiss, "You are the woman that I love. Lily or Sofia, it doesn't matter. I love you either way."

Lily kissed him back. "Love you too. Now lets finish packing. Tony will be here in a few minutes to take us to the airport."

Tony parked the car, and helped Lily with her bags. While Lily was taking them to the curb, Tony put a hand on Tim's shoulder making the younger man look at him. Usually Tony was a joker and teased Tim continuously, even after all the years that they had worked together. Now he was deadly serious. "Take care of her, Tim. Please." He said. Tim returned Tony's look and nodded.

"I will."

"I know," Tony said and clapped Tim on the shoulder just as Lily returned to give Tony a hug goodbye.

* * *

><p>Her head was resting against the airplane window, Lily dreamed. This was not the horrible nightmares she had been having after being shot. This was a golden-llt dream of a memory mostly forgotten.<p>

She must have been a young teenager, because her mother looked young. . Based on the size and decorations of the kitchen, it must have been their first apartment in Washington, D.C. As far as she knew, her mother was a teacher at a local school. One evening they were having dinner, and the doorbell rang. Irina went to answer the door and Lily, stood by the kitchen trying to see who was there. She was not very tall so she had to stand on tip toes to see over her mother's shoulder.

There were two men at the door. One older than the other. The younger man was blond and blue eyed and had a ready smile. For some reason, Lily was immediately drawn to him. He was much taller than her, amnd ahd to bend down to look her in the eyes. He spoke perfect Russian and although he was smiling, there was something sad in his eyes. She would not have recognized this as a child, but looking at him as an adult through the eyes of the child, she saw it clearly.

"Hello," he had said. "it is very nice to meet you. I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor?"

Confused, Lily looked over at her mother, who nodded. "Da," Lily answered, "Yes".

The younger man continued. "I have this necklace. It was my mom's and she really wanted me to give it to somebody nice. Somebody like my little sister. Do you think, you could pretend to be my little sister and hold on to this necklace for me?"

It was a strange request, but it was a pretty little cross with different colored stones. Lily again checked with her mother, who nodded again.

"Yes." Lily said with certainty.

The young man, reached around and put the pendant on her. "May I give you a hug?" he asked. When Lily nodded yes, he gently wrapped his arms around her and she hugged back. In her dream, Lily could have sworn, she felt him shaking.

After that the two men, shook hands with her mother and left.

As they returned to their dinner, Lily realized that she did not know the names of their guests and she asked, "Mama, who were those men?"

Her mom looked a little said. "They are friends of the family," she said. "The nice young man who gave you the necklace is Greg. I do not know the name of the other man."

Lily awoke with a start. The dream was fresh in her mind. She could not believe that she had forgotten that encounter. She touched the cross that she always wore, took it off to look at the stones "Oh, my God," she breathed. The top stone was an Aquamarine, symbol for a March birthday, the middle stone was an amethyst, for a February birthday, and the bottom one was sapphire, representing September – the month that she was born.

Tim, who had been dozing, sat up and looked at Lily in concern. "Are you OK."

"Tim. Do you know if Agent Callen was born in March?" Tim looked at her in confusion, but nodded. "I think so. I remember sending him an e-card sometime around then."

That is why the photograph that Hetty showed her, seemed familiar. She had met Agent Callen before. It was so long ago and had been such a short meeting that she had forgotten it entirely and had just assumed that her mother had given her the cross. He had recognized her. He had come to see his sister. He had given her their mother's cross.

"Oh my God," she said again as her mind jumped back to the other man in her dream. He was much younger and his hair was not silver, but she recognized him immediately. Her brother's partner had been none other than Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

**I hope that you are enjoying this story. Looks like Callen's and Lily's lives have been connected much longer than they had thought. For the purposes of this story, I am thinking that Lily would have been about thirteen and Callen 23 - a young junior agent - perhaps even on his first assignment. I had to play with the ages just a touch to make the story work. I hope you all do not mind. Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think. I really appreciate your reviews, comments and recommendations. **


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